Hospitals, Health Department gear up for Ericka

For some first responders and hospitals, waiting for fickle Ericka to make up her mind isn’t an option.

So while the tropical storm veers east, then west and decides whether to break apart or strengthen into a hurricane, those in the medical and emergency fields are gearing up for her worst.

Boca Raton nurse Raquel Stout puts up shutters Friday morning on her home. Stout says she needs to get prepared because she is will be with the pre-storm team either at Boca Regional Hospital or Delray Medical Center. (Photo: Post reporter John Pacenti)

At the very least, it’s a good drill. In the Boca Raton neighborhood Palmetto Park Terrace, Raquel and Jason Stout were putting up shutters on their home on Friday morning because both expect to be on call.

She is a nurse at Delray Medical Center and Boca Raton Regional Hospital and will be working throughout the weekend on the “first team.” He is a firefighter for Boca Raton Fire & Rescue and he remembers the storms 10 years ago that hit South Florida. He was at work for nearly a week.

“Once a hurricane warning is issued, there is a potential that I can be there for four, five straight days,” he said. “This was the only day we can do this.”

The couple also has to make arrangements for their 4 and 6 year old children, The Stouts were also taking advantage of Ericka to go through a drill for future more stronger hurricanes. It is the first time they put the shutters since moving into the home three years ago.

“Then we can see if we need to go to Home Depot or not,” he said.

“Most hospitals right now are looking at their inpatients and seeing which ones can be discharged,” said Mary Ann Goodman, spokeswoman for the VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach. “You never know how long this is going to go on.”

The VA is closing its outpatient clinics on Sunday in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Okeechobee, Stuart, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie. All elective surgeries and procedures are also cancelled but the hospital is mainlining its operations.

The VA’s nine-story building on 45th Street is one of the more sturdy in the county, Goodman said. Furthermore, the hospital learned to prepare following the spate of hurricanes a decade ago that hit the county.

“We have an emergency generator. We are like a little city onto itself. We got the water, she said.

The Health Department is also getting in the starting blocks as Ericka approaches, ready to implement emergency plans if necessary.

Dr. Alina Alonso, the director of the Health Department in Palm Beach County, met with her county executive team to make decisions on emergency activation, such as whether to open up a special needs shelter at the fairgrounds.

“All of our staff have been put on alert and are reviewing plans for protecting all buildings, equipment, vaccines and call lists,” Department spokesman Tim O’Connor said.

The environmental health teams are also reviewing plans for assessing damage and advising on clean-up in the case of flooding, he said.

Plan could include sanitizing well heads, cleanup of sewage overflow from septic tanks and lift stations, sanitizing of flooded buildings, looking out for reportable and other diseases and assuring clients who receive assistance from the Women, Children and Infants program can get food.

The Healthcare District of Palm Beach County has it’s preparedness in place for Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade and the Edward Healey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in West Palm Beach. The later has 120 people, many of them receiving treatment for traumatic injury.

If the county does open the special needs shelter, then the district will provide pharmaceutical services. It doesn’t at this time plan on moving its two Trauma Hawk helicopters out of the storm’s reach as it has done with hurricanes in the past.

Interim CEO Nick Romanello said the district’s facilities has had plenty of practice, drilling just last week as Tropical Storm Danny churned in the Atlantic Ocean.

“This is obviously a much more real exercise,” he said.

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